Senate Banking Panel Schedules Vote on Yellen for Fed This Week

Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. President Barack Obama's nominee as chairman of the Federal Reserve, speaks during a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, 2013. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Banking Committee has
scheduled a Nov. 21 vote on the nomination of Janet Yellen to be
chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The panel vote will set the stage for a full Senate
confirmation vote later this year. If confirmed, Yellen, the
Fed’s current vice chairman, will become the first woman to lead
the U.S. central bank.

Democrats hold a two-vote lead on the 22-member committee.
Yellen, 67, would succeed Ben S. Bernanke, whose current term
ends in January.

Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, led an effort with
20 Democrats to send President Barack Obama a letter in support
of Yellen before she had been nominated. Yellen faces opposition
from Republicans who disapprove of the Fed’s recent monetary
policy.

In 2010, Republican senators including the banking panel’s
top Republican, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Alabama’s Richard Shelby,
Louisiana’s David Vitter and Tennessee’s Bob Corker, opposed
her. They all remain on the banking panel.

Yellen would need the support of five Republicans to gain
60 votes for confirmation on the Senate floor.

Senator Mike Johanns, a Nebraska Republican, has said he is
“open” to her nomination. Corker said on Nov. 14 that Yellen
is “obviously very qualified” and he has concerns over her
positions on monetary policy. He is set to meet again with her
this week.

Vitter Opposed

Vitter said in a statement on Nov. 14 that he would vote no
on Yellen’s nomination.

Yellen made clear “she would continue the Fed’s current
policies of continuing ‘Too Big to Fail’ and free money,
quantitative easing, with no wind-down in sight,” Vitter said
in a statement.

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said he will
oppose Yellen’s nomination unless he receives consideration of
his measure requiring a public audit of the Federal Reserve.

In two hours of testimony before the banking panel last
week, Yellen indicated she’ll press on with the Federal
Reserve’s unprecedented monetary stimulus until she sees a
robust recovery. Yellen signaled her determination to use bond
buying to strengthen the economy and lower the nation’s 7.3
percent unemployment rate.